Recently, we painted a home in Carmel, near 106th and Keystone. The homeowner was getting ready to sell her home, but there were two main problems. First, the home was built nearly 40 years ago and needed to be updated to current styles. Second, the home suffered from a flood of dark wood and brick with little lighting to help. The main target of these problems occurred in the family room, where many families spend most of their time–making it that much more important to add an appealing style to the room. When selling your home you should focus on what the majority of potential buyers are looking for, not one’s personal tastes. So we set out on a mission to update the home, brighten the area, and add an appealing look that would catch the attention of every home buyer in the market. Before we proceed any further, let’s take a look at the family room before we began: The entire room consisted of dark brick and wood. The doors and trim were dark wood. Even the walls were dark wood. At the top of the room a severely outdated wallpaper border was displayed. But the main project of this mission was the dark brick around the fireplace (see also our blog, “White Washing: Not Just for Tom Sawyer”). Before painting anything, a primer was applied to the walls, doors, and all miscellaneous trim. Paint by itself is not recommended to be applied directly to wood. Over time the dyes from the wood or stain can bleed through the paint, or even worse, the paint might start to flake right off the wood. The wallpaper was securely fastened to the wall and in an unnoticeable area so it was also primed over without removing it, although it is not recommend in all situations. Once primed we began by white washing the bricks around the fireplace. Then we double coated all the trim and doors with a very light cream color of trim paint from PPG Porter Paints. Dark cream and off-white trim colors are increasingly a style of the past, so we kept everything as light as possible but at the same time added enough color to the room to keep it warm and appealing to potential home buyers. A darker version of the light trim color was then applied to the walls with two coats. Painting is the most efficient and cost-effective way to make a huge improvement to your home. It can give you a huge advantage when selling your home or add a more comfortable atmosphere to your current home. See the dramatic change to the family room after we finished: